>> The UCS <<

(( A note: if this seems a little different from the other character sheets, it's because this was an old format from an older iteration of this game. ))

Faction Information

Name: UCS

Government: The UCS is governed by an invisible body, often called the Director. In other words, even to the populace, the governing structure is kept secret, in part to donate to the perceived power of the entity. Regardless of its status or the unanswered inquiries surrounding it, it maintains a steady stream of directives aimed at individuals at any level of command. The lower levels of command, independent of though loyal to and commanded by the Director, are set up in a hierarchal structure of appointed men and women which is subject to membership increases on each lower tier (that is, the general pattern says that there will be more people at lower levels of the hierarchy than at higher levels).

Leader(s): The Director

Behavior: The UCS is highly territorial, willing to make what is regarded by outsiders as 'false legal claims' in order to issue valid declarations of invasion (exploration), theft (re-appropriation of goods), kidnapping and assassination (extraordinary rendition), propaganda (public diplomacy), war (stimulation of production of vital national industries through organised disposal of acquired defense surplus), and genocide (implementation of final solutions).

Military: Thirty five hundred Liberty Vehicles (LVs). A recent stimulus in the interest of energy dispersal, mass relocation and research transport systems has led to sizable though steady increase in the production of individual members of the People's Liberty Maintenance Organisation (PLMO), so this number is liable to increase. Liberty vehicles are generally associated with four categories: Miniature All-Purpose Task Accelerators (MAPTAs), which are basically small probes designed to aid in non-military labour, reconnaissance, stealth missions and illusive trickery; General Dissidence Pacifiers (GDPs), which are essentially frigates or general warships used for tactical missions and low-force operations; Large Armoured Peace Catalyzers (LAPCs; sometimes referred to as PCs), which serve as the main force behind the UCS employment of law as destroyers and hard-hitting cannon-toters; Universal Directive Propagators (UDPs), which are large, defensible spacecraft as close to flagships as a given LV can get.

Planets: Planets anywhere within UCS borders (which is everywhere) are absolutely and everywhere unpopulated by UCS personnel, instead only used for aggressive collection of life-aiding resources. The actual populace lives on one of many Stable Recreation Centers (SRCs), massive, portable stations to optimise and idealise life for the ultimate benefit of the society.

Technology:

Designation: Stellar Superluminal Drive (SSD)Function: A given SSD is of a set size and maximum energy input. The speed and 'effect bubble' is entirely determined by the amount of power given to the drive as well as the alteration made by computer-controlled variable resistors. These drives are on board every ship in production — excepting drones that are either too small to power them or too small to contain them — and are always present redundantly. A popular schematic involves placing each in different sectors of the ship, so, in cataclysmic events, the sections of the ship will be able to individually escape or maneuver in battle. Notably, this redundancy is present in all vital systems (i.e. life support, power, engines).Method: The SSD shifts a ship into hyperspace, a sort of spacial construct not too much unlike an ocean in shape (each layer of the ocean corresponds to an instance of four dimensional space with real space is just one layer within the ocean). The deeper a ship is in hyperspace, the higher the speed of light, and thus the higher the maximum speed of the ship becomes.

Designation: Superlumination Disruptor Field (SDF)Function: SDFs are intended to force a ship to exit hyperspace or a similarly functioning FTL travel method. These are expensive, incredibly energy consuming devices only placed on population vehicles and the very largest of ship. They do, however, have huge radii, and so a single engine can very effectively cover a reasonable area, giving the PLMO time to react to liberty threats.Method: The field that the SDF produces exponentially increases the force of attraction that realspace casts on a ship in hyperspace or similar functioning FTL travel method. This field overcomes the FTL engine and tears it (more or less violently) back into realspace.

Designation: Atomic Combination Matrix (ACM)Description The nuclear fusion of small atomic particles is incited by the fission of much larger ones. These energy releasing reactions are weaponised as warheads and unleashed ad nauseam until enlightenment is reached.

Designation: Intelligent Motivation Transposer (IMT) :: Unintelligent Motivation Transposer (UMT)Description: The IMT and UMT are vehicles of liberty used to move materiel such as an AMC closer to the heathen construct demanding of enlightenment. The intelligence of these vehicles relates to their ability to correct their course beyond the point of deployment. An IMT is able to do this through continual thrust and directional adjustments. It is fitted with a basic sensor suite that primarily focuses on mass shadows of ships (detecting a ship based on how it deforms space-time) with a complement of traditional sensors that are ignored if their readings indicate a significant deviation from the primary readings. This generally prevents sensor jamming unless proper cloaking techniques are implemented. A UMT is simply a vehicle without a sensor suite. It may be programmed pre-deployment to adjust its course in various ways, but it will never react actively. For this reason, it is impossible to 'fool' the UMT into ineffectuality.

Designation: Stable Recreation Center (SRC)Description: Taking the form of a massive ring 100 km across, the SRC is the epitome of stabilised artificial living. The interior of the ring is enclosed in kilometre tall walls that contain the natural landscape suited for living. No roof is necessary, since very little air would actually leak over the top of these walls, and thus the sky is dominated by a massive command sphere, suspended by great pillars that rise from the outer ring. It spins gently over the ring, casting sunlight that marks each day, and holds all the controls that influence the movement and spin of the massive construct. Given a tangential velocity of about 564.4 m/s, the ship creates the ideal ethean gravity of around .65g, with very little change by elevation. Besides control of the many engines that coat the outside of the ring, the Central Command Sphere (CCS) contains a massive particle cannon capable of untold enlightenment.

Designation: Universal Matter Relocator (UMR)Description: A UMR is a line of sight operated device that casts a beam able to move objects in three dimensional space with a high degree of control. The strength of the beam is dependent on the energy input and the capabilities of the device. It, for example, cannot overcome the engines of the average spaceship, but it can typically over power a craft such as a fighter, though it is more difficult to lock onto and slow down fast moving objects.

Designation: Particle Accelerator Cannon (PAC)Description: A PAC is a variable size staple of ethean weaponry. It functions as a beautiful accent to the power of AMCs moving quickly about the battlefield and is much more difficult to stop than those independent vehicles. In operation it accelerates particles at violent rates towards subjects in order to aid in their achievement of a better understanding of the universe.

Designation: Shields (RAIMR)Description: Shields are a basic field surrounding a given ship, redundantly produced by an array of independent matter relocators. They are primarily a threshold defense—a given projectile either will or will not breach the field—although they do serve to remove a significant amount of kinetic energy from these threats. Intelligent point defense computing typically manages the matter relocators such that several focus on points where something is projected to impact, thus creating momentary strong and weak points in defenses. Another facet of the RAIMR is the inherent one-direction effect of the field. Given that it is a constant force away from the ship, such projectiles that originate from inside the ship are actually granted more kinetic energy, increasing their power.

Designation: Reflection/Dissipation Layer (RDL)Description: Atop the other layers of armour upon an ethean ship, which mainly consist of large amounts of solid metal, sits rows of reflective panels that form the Reflection/Dissipation Layer. Underneath these is a large superconductor that corresponds with the heat sinks. The purpose of this layer is to almost completely negate the effect of laser-based weaponry. Originally, in the preliminaries of the Great March, laser weaponry had become a great hurdle to overcome. This design, first reflecting the lasers and then ensuring the excess heat would not deform the panels, served to catch the enemy completely off guard. Although laser weapons are not very often used any longer, the ships still carry this armour layer, as it only serves to benefit.

Societal Structuring: The life of an ethean is a four step progression:

1. Childhood or "Learners" — From birth to the age of sixteen, a man or woman is engaged in learning about basic mathematics, physics, and science, and heavy illustration of high concepts in literature and philosophy. This stage sets a basis for the ability to behave, function in society, and project ideas, making a person more effective, ultimately. Upon exiting the very mandatory schooling, the given ethean is expected to be able to articulate their thoughts with exactness. During this stage, all children live with their parents, work mostly with peers or stage two workers, and are taught to respect the line of work they plan to enter.

2. Mid-life or "Labourers" — After, at most, a year of vacation from stage one, an ethean progresses to the labour industry. These jobs rely on the strength and wit of the man or woman more than the philosophical abilities or engineering genius. People are taught to save these ideas for when they graduate from stage two. Though at face-value this stage seems to be a simple labour and contribution, it actually serves a double purpose because of the subliminal messaging added to the work environment. The ideas, skills and necessities of working on and managing a ship are slowly worked into an ethean's mind as he or she performs the job, giving them a vivid basis for command, even without direct military training. This process makes drafts much easier and cheaper, ultimately. This stage will last around twenty-five years, though things are much more subject to change here than other places. Etheans live alone at this stage.

3. Elderly or "Philosophers" — At this point in the progression, a person is allowed, finally, to let out the ideas she has been harbouring for the last twenty-five years. Stage three personnel are highly respected by the community and are expected to donate skill-reinforced contributions to all industries. Many times these innovations unconsciously fuel the PLMO. At this point, etheans are allowed to declare love in any form they wish. They live alone or with their significant others in better conditions then those experienced by stage two workers. Despite this, many, as they are given the chance to, return to the industry they worked in, and probably revolutionised, to not only observe the effects of their work but to continue doing something they loved.

4. Soon-dead or "Retired" — This stage may happen at any time beyond the average life span of an ethean, whenever they deem themselves unfit to continue working in society. These people are devoted purely to creation or recreation, wishing only to amuse their minds and donate their experience to younger minds. Many choose death earlier than eighty-five, and only few decide to live much longer.

History: Though the government of the UCS has only been around for a few hundred years (with appropriate policy changes as technology changes), the driving methodology behind the system developed many years before that, though there was no unification and no military to back it. The relatively recent introduction of the Director has brought about an interest in protecting the coalition from both inner dissent and outside (though yet undiscovered) threats. This all comes long after the large demilitarisation of the coalition following the Great March.

The Great March was perhaps the largest war in the history of the ethean people (there were huge wars based on territorial claims in times far before projectile weaponry). It began at the far eastern beaches as landers dumped a continuous wave of armed and armoured troops that marched in an archaic column as if they were still a medieval army. They moved across the land from coast to coast, snaking through a set of pyrrhic victories that crippled both empires and spelt the ultimate destruction of both empires. The remaining people have harboured a powerful animosity and it still remains to be completely taught out of the younglings, and there still exists a separation between the two peoples as they live in different population ships.

(( It's possible I'll write out this war later. ))

☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼

Species Information Format

Name: ethean

Physiology: An ethean is significantly taller than human average, reaching an adult height of 3.9–4.4m at the age of sixteen Earth-years. The average lifespan, based purely on the length of life of all citizens is fifty-eight for men and sixty-one for women. Weighted to disregard deaths caused by artificial means (such as an industrial death or murder), the age for both men and women is about sixty-nine. Eighty-five is recognised as the 'ideal' age for a person to live — beyond that the quality of life begins to drop dramatically due to degradation of the body (it is considered bad practise, but this can be reversed at some disgusting cost). The general shape of an ethean is a stretched image of a human, with an equal shoulder width but longer arms and legs and a similar torso size. Despite their great height, they have an extremely thin profile, at most a centimeter across, rendering the race equivalents to a few sheets of paper. This leads to an unnatural flexibility and, for particular members of society, full on bending, though none have joints and most can only bend without angles. In colour, the race is born white and clothes themselves in what is effectively a spray-paint coating of the preferred colour. Healthy gravity for an ethean ranges from a 55–75% of Earth gravity; heavier gravity will cause a body to compress uncomfortably, shrinking a person in size; lighter gravity will affect vital organs and systems in the body and lead to slow deformations. Both conditions are negotiably unfavorable.

Psychology: Primarily an ethean is passive aggressive, holding a will to win while not desiring any direct approach. Instead they desire manipulation and clever plots, looking to outsmart the competition. The respect granted to a given person is not based on their body or their position in society, but upon the thoughts they've contributed. Community is equal with the value of life as the most important ideal in society — though largely enjoyed, competition is mostly a mask and an entertainment to occupy the populace.

Culture: The most prominent belief system is belief in self. Cult behaviour is also prominent, sometimes as a secondary and sometimes alone. Beyond that, there are a few cultural beliefs in following the strongest person, or a god, but this is frowned upon as it shows that a person feels they cannot contribute to the progress of society, which is possibly the ultimate goal of life: do something people will not remember, but benefit from. Memory is not as important as the tangible result.

The belief in self is commonly construed in a few ways, whether to represent the variation of a personality or the orientation of a person. A group likes to preach belief in finding oneself's perfect place, so that they may be able to optimise the efforts made. A singleton is more liable to keep to himself or herself, isolating the work done in an effort not only to keep secret (until death) ideas as well as refrain from disturbing the rest of the race. A man or woman who breaks the serenity of the design community is labelled as an obstruction, though this has little to say but a title and ridicule. Crime, though rare because of the swift exactness of the rather small detachment of the PLMO sent to manage societal problems, is dealt with severely, by crushing the future of the offender. However, it is important to note that belief in self is not about determination or perseverance; rather, it is about calming oneself and opening the mind in peace to explore the uncharted, to think the unprecedented.

Cults are mainly oriented around an concept that they use as a unifying feature of a group, a guiding principle for their lives and a subject for interpretation and realisation.

Racial Differences: Based on the station lived on, an ethean will primarily vary in height and thickness. Base colour, shape, and biology are typically the same, although there are, rarely, mutations of the deformed sort.

History: (( Right now I don't have much more to put here than what's in the other history section. I might write a nice history, but I'd rather have something posted for the rp. ))